Beth and Ken both wanted to go, and they needed Hutch, so Wally volunteered to stay behind. It was fairly evident he wasn’t unhappy with the situation. “It’s all right,” he said. “I’m not big into archeology.”

Or ice, Hutch thought. She distributed commlinks. “Use these,” she said. “They have an automatic connection with Barry and Tasha and with each other. When you’re wearing a helmet, there’s an insert for it.”

They pulled on the suits and air tanks and helmets while Wally watched. “Be careful,” he said. “Don’t let anything happen. I don’t want to go home alone.” He meant it as a joke, but no one laughed.

“Don’t worry,” said Derek. “We’ll be fine.”

When they were ready, Hutch led the way into the cargo bay, where they boarded the lander. She sat down at the controls and turned on the display to pick up the view from the cockpit. “Hello, Tasha,” she said. “Start the engine and open the launch doors.” Tasha was the lander’s AI. The doors rolled back, and she took them outside into the frozen sky and waited for Derek to select something of interest.

“Over there,” he said, pointing at a building that was the only artificial construct in that entire flat landscape. The stars were bright, and there was no sign of the black hole. She took them down through a night sky that was crystal clear, while Derek gave occasional directions and also advised where she should land.

Ken was checking his commlink. “These are going to be spectacular pictures,” he said. “Maybe the most compelling element in the book.”

“You have a title for it yet, love?” asked Beth.

“Maybe Down the Rabbit Hole?”

The building did look like a structure out of Paris or New York. There were windows in horizontal and vertical lines, exactly like the buildings at home. The glass was all gone, of course. “Want to take us a little closer, Hutch?” said Derek. “I’d like to be able to shine a light in there.”

There was no wind action of any kind, so she saw no reason to stay clear. She started by taking them across the rooftop, which was covered with ice and partially collapsed. It was impossible to tell where the front of the building had been, so she simply picked a window at random, maneuvered close to it, and directed Tasha to aim the lander’s spotlight into it.

The light illuminated a desk, a couple of chairs, a table topped by a mechanical device of some sort. Incredibly, there were plates or plaques on the walls. All frozen and indistinguishable from one another. “Looks like an office,” said Beth.

Hutch moved them to a second window.